| You have been planning your garage sale for weeks | | | | unlimited time, until they sell. |
| now. Your garage, as well as you whole home, is | | | | AT HOME: Your items are available until you call it |
| stuffed with old records, books, clothing, vacuum | | | | quits for the night. |
| sweepers, and other odds and ends that you have | | | | ONLINE: Rain, sleet, or snow, your sales aren't |
| no use for anymore. Instead of just tossing your | | | | affected in the least. |
| clutter into the neighborhood landfill, you've decided | | | | AT HOME: Better have a rain date or a very big |
| to hold one of the most time-honored traditions in | | | | umbrella. |
| civilization-the garage (or yard) sale. It can be a | | | | ONLINE: No need to constantly watch over your |
| thankless task, becoming a pawnbroker for a day, | | | | goods or interact with uninterested customers. Just |
| but there's definitely good money in it-if you know | | | | wait until a customer contacts you by e-mail when |
| how and, more importantly, where to organize your | | | | they are ready to purchase. |
| garage sale. | | | | AT HOME: Be prepared for countless hours of staring |
| First, of course, you need to get your sales items | | | | down the street for customers to appear. When |
| together. Garage sales are a great way to recycle | | | | they do arrive, be prepared for too many questions |
| stuff that you no longer have room for. You'd be | | | | but too few purchases. |
| surprised what doodads and miscellany your | | | | ONLINE: Advertise for free to your friends and |
| neighbors will want-musty books, old silver wear, | | | | neighbors over e-mail. |
| framed photos of long-lost third cousins, and other | | | | AT HOME: Shell out money for flyers, after which |
| unmentionables that you've had no use for since who | | | | you can get to know all of the telephone poles in |
| knows when. Even more surprising, your neighbors | | | | your neighborhood. |
| are willing to shell out cold hard cash for these items. | | | | ONLINE: Spend your weekends the way they were |
| That makes your garage sale a win-win proposition | | | | meant to be: relaxing and enjoying your time with |
| for you. | | | | friends and family. |
| Come to think of it, though, a garage sale at your | | | | AT HOME: Spend your weekend waking up early, |
| home can be a real chore. It takes a Herculean effort | | | | buying and distributing flyers, lugging boxes, and |
| to collect and organize every last little thing you want | | | | waiting for customers. |
| to sell. Then you have to tag each item and keep | | | | As you can see, it's not an even match. An online |
| track of it in a hardcopy log. To ensure that your | | | | garage sale wins hands down. |
| neighbors show up with cash in hand, you must | | | | Now that you're actually excited to get started with |
| create, print up, and pay for flyers, which need to be | | | | your garage sale, you should know that there is one |
| distributed on telephone poles and supermarket | | | | caveat. As easy as it may seem, your online garage |
| message boards across the region. The work can | | | | sale will be even easier if you choose the right |
| seem endless and your chances of making a profit | | | | classified site. |
| slim. | | | | Your best bet is to do your research and find |
| Don't get me wrong. Your garage sale was a great | | | | classified sites with the most features and benefits, |
| idea, but as you can see, there are many limitations | | | | such as |
| to holding one at your house the old-fashioned way. | | | | (1) No sign-up, registration, or transaction fees. |
| Get with the times. The garage sale has evolved | | | | (2) Free ad listing with text description and pictures. |
| thanks to the multitude of Web sites that allow you | | | | (3) Long-term ad posting and free renewals. |
| to sell your goods online. People are selling more stuff | | | | (4) Easy, accurate, electronic, and automatic record |
| than ever on the Internet because of the | | | | keeping. |
| convenience of Web classified sites. | | | | The best classified sites have these incredible |
| The Internet holds several crucial advantages over | | | | features and then some. Not only will you be able to |
| selling your stuff the outdated way. When you | | | | clean out your home's clutter with the help of these |
| compare these benefits to the problems with | | | | classified sites. Your garage sale will also park a profit |
| home-based garage sales, you'll see the difference: | | | | in your pocket. |
| ONLINE: Your items are available for purchase for an | | | | |